Morad wins as podium battle thrills

Morad beat slow-starting polesitter Mirko Bortolotti off the line to take the lead, and the Status driver enjoyed a fairly stress-free run home to eventually win by 4.9 seconds, taking both his and his team's first victory in the category.

Bortolotti was second across the line, although that could change with a final lap incident involving the Italian and series leader Esteban Gutierrez currently under investigation by race stewards.

Gutierrez had made steady progress through the field from eighth to challenge the Italian for second, and after shadowing the Addax car for several laps Gutierrez made a move on the run down Wellington Straight. Bortolotti responded by putting Gutierrez onto the grass, allowing the Mexican's ART team-mate Alexander Rossi into the mix.

While Bortolotti ran away in second, Rossi and Gutierrez fought furiously for third, the pair running side through the final complex and crossing the finish line almost simultaneously - Rossi was granted the honours, but the timing screen displayed the margin between the pair as 0.00s.

Nico Muller (Jenzer) was fifth, having run much of the race in third before a mistake allowed both of the ART drivers through, while Robert Wickens took the final point for Status.

Pos  Driver                Team         Time/Gap
 1.  Daniel Morad          Status     26m35.990s
 2.  Mirko Bortolotti      Addax        + 4.974s
 3.  Alexander Rossi       ART          + 5.537s
 4.  Esteban Gutierrez     ART          + 5.626s
 5.  Nico Muller           Jenzer       + 6.116s
 6.  Robert Wickens        Status       + 6.869s
 7.  Tobias Hegewald       RSC Mucke    + 7.714s
 8.  Renger van der Zande  RSC Mucke   + 10.872s
 9.  Oliver Oakes          Atech CRS   + 16.493s
10.  Pal Varhaug           Jenzer      + 19.226s
11.  Josef Newgarden       Carlin      + 19.991s
12.  James Jakes           Manor       + 23.871s
13.  Simon Trummer         Jenzer      + 24.843s
14.  Pablo Sanchez Lopez   Addax       + 28.577s
15.  Michael Christensen   MW Arden    + 28.748s
16.  Lucas Foresti         Carlin      + 42.464s
17.  Doru Sechelariu       Tech 1      + 44.034s
18.  Miki Monras           MW Arden    + 46.761s
19.  Roberto Merhi         Atech CRS   + 47.572s
20.  Pedro Nunes           ART         + 48.034s
21.  Vittorio Ghirelli     Atech CRS   + 48.727s
22.  Dean Smith            Carlin      + 50.126s
23.  Felipe Guimaraes      Addax       + 57.832s

Retirements:

     Ivan Lukashevich      Status     11 laps
     Leonardo Cordeiro     MW Arden   9 laps
     Stefano Coletti       Tech 1     8 laps
     Adrian Quaife-Hobbs   Manor      4 laps
     Nigel Melker          RSC Mucke  2 laps
     Daniel Juncadella     Tech 1     2 laps
     Rio Haryanto          Manor      2 laps